Edgestream Partners L.P. Sells 23,411 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Edgestream Partners L.P. trimmed its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 31.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,928 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 23,411 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LUV. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 57,976 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.98 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.89. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.78 billion, a PE ratio of -471.14, a P/E/G ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.